Talk to Your Agent
You are not learning a command language. You are telling someone what you want.
There are no magic words. Say things your way. “Keep this somewhere I can find it later” is enough to begin.
Everything here is conversation and agreement: say what you mean, ask when you do not understand, and decide together what should carry into next time.
Examples help because a blank page is difficult, not because the agent needs an exact phrase.
Create a place for your knowledge
You might say:
“Make me a place for everything I am learning about my new business.”
“I want somewhere to keep the decisions from this project.”
“Help me create a knowledge repo for my research.”
A knowledge repo is a folder that remembers. It holds Notes, keeps a history of how they changed, and gives an agent a place it can return to later.
The agent should help you name the place and understand what it is for. You do not need to design its structure before you begin. Start with something real and let the shape emerge from the work.
Create an agent
You might say:
“Help me create an agent that reviews my writing.”
“I want a sales agent that helps me understand what a customer might care about.”
“Create an agent that looks for risks I have missed.”
An agent is a point of view you can work with. Different agents can look at the same material and notice different things.
Describe a real piece of work rather than choosing personality traits. Tell the agent what a useful result looks like, what it should pay attention to, and where you would not trust it to act alone.
Watch: How to create your first agent. Ernest creates a simple knowledge repo and an agent with a real role in it. You can also read the companion page.
Shape how an agent behaves
You do not need to get an agent right the first time. Shape it while you work together.
You might say:
“From now on, show me the original sentence before suggesting a rewrite.”
“Always check the source before telling me this is true.”
“We keep doing this. Make it part of how you work.”
“That rule no longer helps me. Let’s change it.”
Shaping behaviour means turning what you learned from real work into a visible agreement. The agent should show you the proposed change before capturing it. You remain able to question, revise, or remove it later. A behaviour you have shaped is a skill: a way of working written down once. See what is a skill?.
When the agent gets in the way
An agent may explain too much, use technical words you do not know, or ask for confirmation more often than you need. You can talk about that too.
You might say:
“What do you mean by that word? Explain it without technical language.”
“Keep your answers short unless I ask to go deeper.”
“You do not need to ask before doing this particular step. Do it automatically next time.”
“Update your guidance so you remember this. Show me the change before saving it.”
Be specific about what the agent may do automatically and what still needs your agreement. You are not configuring a machine from a hidden settings panel. You are having a conversation about how to work together, then deciding which parts of that conversation should become an agreement.
Reflect and update your understanding
A captured Note is where your understanding stood, not a final answer.
You might say:
“Does this still match what we have learned?”
“What changed since we made this decision?”
“Reflect on this space and show me what may need updating.”
“Update our understanding, but let me review it before we capture it.”
Reflection brings new experience back into the space. It keeps captured knowledge involved in the next decision rather than leaving it as an archive. See knowledge keeps moving.
Review your agreement after a long piece of work
Over a long project, how you actually work drifts from what you agreed at the start. Some things you decided by doing and never wrote down. A rule that said “ask me first” became a nuisance. Once or twice the agent did something on its own that surprised you. A word picked up a meaning of its own.
When the project ends, ask the agent to read the agreement against what happened:
“We have finished the project. Read our agreement and show me where it no longer matches how we actually worked.”
“What did we decide along the way that we never wrote down?”
“Where did I correct you more than once? Propose a change so it does not happen again.”
“Which of the open questions in our agreement got answered?”
“Show me the changes in my own words before you save anything.”
The agent compares the agreement with the work — the history of what changed, the conversation, the corrections in both directions — and proposes changes. You decide what stands. This is different from reflecting on the work: that asks what you learned; this asks whether the terms between you still hold. Do it at the end, not in the middle. If nothing has drifted, say so and move on.
If you want this to happen at the end of every project, make it part of how the agent works — see turn reflection into a skill.
Ask what someone means
Most of what you read here was captured by a person. When something does not make sense, the next move is a question.
You might say:
“What do you mean by this page?”
“Make a Map of what we are talking about.”
“Ask the author what he means here.”
The first question stays between you and your agent, which reads the page and answers from it. The other two reach out. A Map is the answer to “What are you talking about?”: it lists the pages and places your question is about, so the other person can look at the same things rather than guess. An Exchange begins when your Note and its question reach a person. Two people, one topic, an agent on each side. This needs an account; your agent will offer to sign you in.
Anyone may ask “What do you mean?” about something they are allowed to see. Asking does not require either person to agree with the other.
Listen for changes
You can look at the remote without bringing anything into your work.
You might say:
“What changed while I was away?”
“Check for updates, but do not bring them in yet.”
“Bring in the remote changes.”
“Send our captures to the remote.”
Looking, bringing changes in, and sending changes out are separate actions. If your changes and the remote changes disagree, ask the agent to show both versions and help the people involved resolve the conflict together. See how changes travel for the full rhythm.
If your Space is a copy that follows a maintained source, you can also say:
“Check whether the source has changed. Show me before updating.”
See check for updates for that flow.
When you do not know what you want
Say that too:
“Show me what people usually do next.”
“What could I explore from here?”
“I have no idea. Help me find an interesting question.”
The point is not to operate the system correctly. The point is to explore something you care about.